Quality of service extensions for multimedia applications in wireless computer networks

Abstract

A networking protocol includes definitions of quality of service enhancements to provide reliable multimedia data stream connections in wireless computer networks. These enhancements may be implemented as extensions to packet headers, such as a multimedia control field made up of various sub fields.

1. An interface between a wireless network component and a wireless medium, the interface communicating multimedia data streams as defined by a networking protocol that includes definitions of quality of service enhancements to provide reliable communications of said multimedia data streams, the quality of service enhancements comprising a capability information field and a multimedia control field within a media access control frame and including a frame position sub-field, pad byte sub-field, a stream index sub-field, a basic service set identification sub-field and a time stamp sub-field; and
 wherein the capability information field consists of a multimedia capability bit to indicate whether a device is multimedia enhanced, a proxy point coordinator bit to indicate whether a device can provide proxy services, a alternate point coordinator capability bit to indicate whether a device can be an alternated point coordinator, and a channel sharing bit to indicate whether basic service set is sharing a channel with other overlapping basic service sets; and  
 wherein the multimedia control field consists of 32 bits; wherein the 32 bits of the multimedia control field consists of five sub-fields; and the five sub-fields consist of:  
 a first 2-bit sub-field indicating a frame position within a series of frames,  
 a second 2-bit sub-field indicating a number of bytes padded in a frame to make an entire frame 4-byte aligned,  
 a third 4-bit basis service set identification sub-field indicating when overlapping subnets need to operate in a same channel,  
 a fourth 8-bit sub-field indicating an index number uniquely identifying the multimedia data streams, in which all values of the index are dynamically assigned and used,  
 a fifth 16-bit time stamp sub-field used to provide support for synchronization of any two streams originating from a device.  
 
     
     
       2. The interface of  claim 1  wherein the quality of service enhancements further comprise a forward error correction based on Reed Soloman coding. 
     
     
       3. The interface of  claim 1  wherein the quality of service enhancements further comprise a retransmission mechanism to improve the efficiency of multimedia data stream transmissions. 
     
     
       4. The interface of  claim 1  wherein the quality of service enhancements comprise a multimedia type definition in a medium access control header frame. 
     
     
       5. The interface of  claim 4  wherein the multimedia type is indicated within a frame control field. 
     
     
       6. The interface of  claim 5  wherein the multimedia type is indicated by setting to logic high both bites of a two bite sub-field within the frame control field. 
     
     
       7. A system comprising an interface wherein the interface communicates multimedia data streams as defined by a networking protocol that includes definitions of quality of service enhancements to provide reliable communications of said multimedia data streams, the quality of service enhancements including a capability information field and a multimedia control field within a multimedia control frame and including a frame position sub-field, pad byte sub-field, a stream index sub-field, a basic service set identification sub-field and a time stamp sub-field;
 wherein the capability information field consists of a multimedia capability bit to indicate whether a device is multimedia enhanced, a proxy point coordinator bit to indicate whether a device can provide proxy services, a alternate point coordinator capability bit to indicate whether a device can be an alternated point coordinator, and a channel sharing bit to indicate whether basic service set is sharing a channel with other overlapping basic service sets; and  
 wherein the multimedia control field consists of 32 bits, wherein the 32 bits of the multimedia control field consists of five sub-fields; and the five sub-fields consist of:  
 a first 2-bit sub-field indicating a frame position within a series of frames;  
 a second 2-bit sub-field indicating a number of bytes padded in a frame to make an entire frame 4-byte aligned;  
 a third 4-bit basis service set identification sub-field indicating when overlapping subnets need to operate in a same channel;  
 a fourth 8-bit sub-field indicating an index number uniquely identifying the multimedia data streams, in which all values of the index are dynamically assigned and used;  
 a fifth 16-bit time stamp sub-field used to provide support for synchronization of any two streams originating from a device.